High demand exists for mobile computing devices that can be used anywhere, anytime. One set of limitations placed on this demand is the quality, efficiency, reliability, safety, ergonomics, and cost effectiveness of the trigger.
A trigger may be a lever or button pushed by the finger or by some other external mechanism to activate a function. However, a trigger is not limited to a finger or other external activation. More broadly speaking, a trigger may also be located internally to the mobile computing device such as a circuit that initiates the action of another component. Hence, triggers may be external triggers or internal triggers depending on the design.
Triggers play an important role in the use of a mobile computing device. These conventional mobile computing devices include a handheld terminal, a lap top computer, a smart phone, a handheld personal digital assistant (PDA), a wireless mobile phone, a pager, an industrial grade mobile computer with scanning and/or RFID functionality, or any other mobile computing device. The mobile computing device may also include one or more radios configured for transmitting, receiving blue tooth, WiFi, or other communications.
In the consumer mobile computing industry, conventional mobile computing devices typically employ some form of a physical contact trigger, a touch screen button, or a voice interface for the external trigger used to activate a computing function. Many mobile computing devices are provided with an accelerometer configured to detect the orientation of the device as well as device movements and vibrations. These external triggers are additional to the internal triggers that are designed into the mobile computing device.
The set of design limitations of quality, efficiency, reliability, safety, ergonomics, and cost effectiveness have given general mobile computing devices many form factors. Most prevalent of these is the candy bar and the clam shell.
In the industrial mobile computing technology space, there is often a need for a more ruggedized form factor. For that reason, conventional industrial grade mobile computing devices typically employ some form of more ruggedized external trigger, such as a pull lever, to activate a computing function, Examples of industrial handheld mobile computing devices that use a lever for a trigger are the handheld scanner or the RFID scanner. These levers are often configured to activate the scanning or RFID function, respectively, when the lever is pulled. An example of a configuration of a trigger in a mobile computing device with a scanner is illustrated in FIG. 1. Such devices have widespread applications including capturing product and purchase price information at a point of sale for payment of the product by a customer.
The scanner of FIG. 1 also shows a form factor popularized in the industrial computing industry and deriving from the set of design limitations of quality, efficiency, reliability, safety, ergonomics, and cost effectiveness—namely, an industrial mobile computing device with a handle. As shown in FIG. 1, an illustrative prior art scanning device 10 includes a mobile computing terminal 15 and a handle 30. The mobile computing terminal 15 includes a scanner 20 which generates a beam of light that is reflected off a bar code (not shown) back into the scanner 20. The handle 30 includes a trigger 58 connected to a pivot 55 having a pivot arm 56. When mechanical trigger 58 is depressed, it pivots around pivot 55 causing pivot arm 56 to contact a head 51 of a switch 57 which closes a circuit (not shown) to generate a signal (not shown) for activation of the scanner. The switch head 54 and switch 57 illustratively provide a trigger interface 50, that is, an interface that converts the mechanical action of the trigger 58 into an electrical signal. Conventional trigger interface 50 is either a contact switch as shown in FIG. 1 or an electro-magnetic circuit where a circuit energizes an electromagnetic coil that induces a secondary coil of a secondary circuit to activate the scanner. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,349,497 held by the Assignee of this disclosure.
In these and other conventional mobile computing devices, there is a need for improved quality, efficiency, reliability, safety, ergonomics, and cost effectiveness to meet the high demand for mobile computing devices that can be used anywhere anytime. This disclosure addresses that need.